I was laid off from my role as a Software Development Engineer (SDE) at a non-tech company just over a month ago. With four years of experience, I really thought my job was secure and didn't prepare for the possibility of losing it—definitely naive of me. Now, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with interview prep and practicing on LeetCode, but it's been a humbling experience. I imagine it’s easier for those who had some warning about their layoffs. For me, the suddenness caught me off guard, and I wasn't ready to jump into interviews if a company had called me right after the layoff.